1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cabinetry art, and more particularly, to a cantilevered drawer slide arrangement where the slide hardware may remain hidden behind the front face of the drawer cabinet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices have been utilized throughout history to guide drawers in and out of drawer cabinets. The simplest mechanism is a box in which the drawer slides. Other methods of control include runners on either side of the drawer or a single runner under the bottom of the drawer with notches to hold the drawer in alignment with the cabinet. All of these basic guide systems have high levels of friction between the drawer and the cabinet and, consequently, rapidly wear out. Numerous low friction devices have been designed to facilitate movement of drawers in and out of cabinets including ball bearings, wheels, and sliders. Most of these low friction devices require unsightly tracks along the side of the drawers and wide spaces between the sides of the drawers and the drawer face to allow passage of the low friction devices from the inside of the drawer cabinet to the outside when the drawer is extended.
Side play of the drawer when extended is another difficult problem particularly in the basic forms of drawer guides. Often the drawer must be moved from side to side and up and down in order to get it to return to the drawer cabinet. As the guides become worn, the problem becomes even more severe. Even drawer slides utilizing rollers, ball bearings and sliders have binding problems especially when the drawers are heavily loaded or the slide parts have become slightly worn.
The ball bearing type of drawer slide creates a different problem in that the drawer cabinet must be perfectly aligned with the drawer slide in order to eliminate binding as the drawer is moved in and out because there is virtually no side play in a ball bearing slide. Skilled labor and time are required to properly position a ball bearing slide.
Another fitting problem exists in all low friction slide arrangements which must be fabricated specifically for the various lengths of drawers. A long drawer requires a long slide arrangement and a short drawer requires a short slide. Manufacturers of cabinetry must have many different lengths of drawer slides in order to make the various lengths of drawers, or cut the slides to fit.